Science: Automatic SOS

No less heroic than the captains who go down with their ships are the
radio and wireless operators who stand by their instruments to the
last, tapping out distress signals. There is always the chance that
another craft just over the horizon will pick up the little clicking
cries that tell the name of the disabled ship, the latitude and
longitude of its position. Often the rescuer will arrive in time to
save those who have been dropped over the side of the sinking vessel in
bobbing lifeboats. Among them he probably will not...